On April 25, the Hunting and Shooting Sports Conservation Council (HSSCC) submitted a letter to Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt offering its perspective on regulations proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to improve the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation President Jeff Crane currently serves as HSSCC Chairman, and leads the group on discussing and implementing recommendations to the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior on behalf of the sportsmen’s community.
In August 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed several regulations to clarify some ambiguities in the ESA, which includes Revision of the Regulation for Listing Species and Designating Critical Habitat and Revision of the Regulations for Prohibitions to Threatened Wildlife and Plants. In the letter, the HSSCC specifically expressed its support for three different Service proposals, including:
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
